This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.

"Public health is a global challenge, and therefore international co-operation has a high priority. The World Health Organization (WHO) is the global authority for health. But a range of other issues are involved in achieving health objectives, requiring WHO to join forces with counterparts. Two of these are the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and World Trade Organization (WTO). This book is the first ever joint study by the three, part of their collaboration on health, intellectual property, and trade. The book's focus is on advancing medical and health technologies ("innovation") and ensuring they reach the people who need them ("accessibility"). A huge amount of analytical and factual material is available on access to medicines and other medical technologies, and on innovation. Here, it is brought together in one concise volume. The book is designed to support governments and others -- particularly in developing countries -- who face an increasing demand to act, when governments want to increase access to effective treatments while containing costs. The underlying theme is: policies on these issues have to be viewed together in order to make real progress."--Publisher's description.

Americans praise medical technology for saving lives and improving health. Yet, new technology is often cited as a key factor in skyrocketing medical costs. This volume, second in the Medical Innovation at the Crossroads series, examines how economic incentives for innovation are changing and what that means for the future of health care. Up-to-date with a wide variety of examples and case studies, this book explores how payment, patent, and regulatory policiesâ€"as well as the involvement of numerous government agenciesâ€"affect the introduction and use of new pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgical procedures. The volume also includes detailed comparisons of policies and patterns of technological innovation in Western Europe and Japan. This fact-filled and practical book will be of interest to economists, policymakers, health administrators, health care practitioners, and the concerned public.

The very rapid pace of advances in biomedical research promises us a wide range of new drugs, medical devices, and clinical procedures. The extent to which these discoveries will benefit the public, however, depends in large part on the methods we choose for developing and testing them. Modern Methods of Clinical Investigation focuses on strategies for clinical evaluation and their role in uncovering the actual benefits and risks of medical innovation. Essays explore differences in our current systems for evaluating drugs, medical devices, and clinical procedures; health insurance databases as a tool for assessing treatment outcomes; the role of the medical profession, the Food and Drug Administration, and industry in stimulating the use of evaluative methods; and more. This book will be of special interest to policymakers, regulators, executives in the medical industry, clinical researchers, and physicians.

A wave of new health care innovation and growing demand for health care, coupled with uncertain productivity improvements, could severely challenge efforts to control future health care costs. A committee of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine organized a conference to examine key health care trends and their impact on medical innovation. The conference addressed the following question: In an environment of renewed concern about rising health care costs, where can public policy stimulate or remove disincentives to the development, adoption and diffusion of high-value innovation in diagnostics, therapeutics, and devices?

The objective of the workshop that is the subject of this summary report was to present the challenges and opportunities for medical devices as perceived by the key stakeholders in the field. The agenda, and hence the summaries of the presentations that were made in the workshop and which are presented in this summary report, was organized to first examine the nature of innovation in the field and the social and economic infrastructure that supports such innovation. The next objective was to identify and discuss the greatest unmet clinical needs, with a futuristic view of technologies that might meet those needs. And finally, consideration was given to the barriers to the application of new technologies to meet clinical needs.

Recognize market opportunities, master the design process, and develop business acumen with this 'how-to' guide to medical technology innovation. Outlining a systematic, proven approach for innovation - identify, invent, implement - and integrating medical, engineering, and business challenges with real-world case studies, this book provides a practical guide for students and professionals.